Ritualist Profession Confirmed for Chapter 2 [Archive]

Kyrion Hellcat

07-01-2006, 20:56

"It's true that one of the goals with the ritualist is to provide an alternative to monks, but primarily, we're looking for these professions to find a unique role in Guild Wars."

... Alternative?

...
...
...

Uh-Oh...

If people wanted alternatives.... they would be playing with rangers, necros or mesmers....

Better focus in the "unique role" part...

Gangrel

07-01-2006, 21:41

This ritualist looks liek a great spirit spammer to me, ubt hey, we will see how it works out :D

slipVaYnE

07-01-2006, 21:53

Sounds fun. I'm glad its not a Druid, or something else ripped from d2...

glitched

07-01-2006, 21:56

Was there anything said about the number of spirits you can have up? Regardless of the number, I am so making a Ritualist/Necromancer. :D

Scutilla

07-01-2006, 22:39

Was there anything said about the number of spirits you can have up? Regardless of the number, I am so making a Ritualist/Necromancer. :D
Nope- we don't even know whether these spirits are physical creatures (like the Ranger's spirits), or they're just AoE spell effects. They seem to serve a variety of purposes though- of the sample skills, a couple are more or less effective depending on how close to a spirit you are, one seems to act like the ele's Ward spells, and one "attacks" the enemy (again, we don't know if it's a physical summoned creature, or just a neat-looking spell).

Sounds fun. I'm glad its not a Druid, or something else ripped from d2...
Actually, there was someone on GWG comparing it to a druid... some people just don't give up I guess :rolleyes:

I'm interested in seeing how people will react to this. Either 1) optimally, the class is accepted in all its major builds, 2) it becomes a second monk and we see lots of (6/8 LF two Ri or Mo (healer only), or 3) the class gets shunned altogether and enjoys popularity similar to the Mesmer. I'd like to make an offensive-based Ritualist, but it remains to be seen how popular those will be (if they'll be considered an acceptable substitute for an elementalist, or just as bad as a smite monk).

Malhavoc Adhamar

07-01-2006, 22:44

That first attribute, Spawning power, makes me think we could see a rise in Rit/R beastmasters. I know I'll be creating one and testing out the new pets with him.

NTsan

07-01-2006, 22:47

It does not look like druid but actually shamans (as in eq/wow)

Ward is shaman's signature ability

Gangrel

07-01-2006, 22:55

zweistein

07-01-2006, 23:35

That first attribute, Spawning power, makes me think we could see a rise in Rit/R beastmasters. I know I'll be creating one and testing out the new pets with him.

I think it will be more like Ri/Ne minion mancers :)

(or, if Elese get elementals, Ri/E summoners)

Chip

08-01-2006, 00:32

SWeeeeeeet. I personnaly was inlove with the druid in D2. Transforming into the wolf and having all those pasive skills adding up. ahhhh. tobad ppl became to involved ith making money andspamming and hacking...

Anyways it sounds like those spirits could be a comination of those ranger spirits and pets or minions. Thanx and could u tell me were the CGW article is on the site.. To lazy to walk down the street and buy it lol

glitched

08-01-2006, 00:44

The CGW article is right here

The Experimentor

08-01-2006, 03:06

Reminds me of the old Guardian spell from the original Diablo...

Of course, that's not a bad thing. ;) Ah, nostalgia...

The new Ritualist profession will be very interesting. :)

slayer13

08-01-2006, 03:40

so does this mean we will get anti spirit attacks like the all so popular unnatural signet? i mean.. i liked having my skillbar shut down for 30 seconds to get rid of all those pesky nature rituals lol. (it was the unnatural signet that im thinking of right?)

Rane-

08-01-2006, 05:23

Roflmfao. This is a lot closer to the D2X Druid than many people seem to pick up on. Sure he's not the shapeshifting whore that the D2X Druid became, but he has other strong similarities. Namely with all the talk of Spirits (which the D2X Druid had an entire tree devoted to) as well as mention of direct damage spells (which the D2X Druid had an entire tree devoted to). That's 2/3rds of the character outright.

Incidentally I think it's great they addressed to issue of every team needing monks. Having to find a combination of Monks and/or Ritualists should be WAY easier than having to always find that bonder and a healer.

I love ANet.

GADefence

08-01-2006, 05:32

Sounds fun. I'm glad its not a Druid, or something else ripped from d2...

Yes, because druids didn't start in D&D.

Princess eirika

08-01-2006, 05:45

"Essence Strike: If you're standing near a summoned spirit, this gives you a quick energy boost."

Standing near a summoned spirit.... I don't know, I just get the hunch that means, that the ritualist will have the same SPIRITS as the ranger.. But it's just a hunch :D

Well, there not the same as Rangers have "nature rituals" but im sure sprirts will be used differently. GW wants to make sure each class has its own uniqueness, so they wouldnt just ramdomly make it the same...

People need to stop comparing class and such to other games like D2 .

Most classes like a druid or assassin or are universal.

Saying that an assassin or any other class is a copy is like saying that a Warrior is a ripoff of every single game. Which would be very stupid. And i have to agree that D&D was the one who started everything. Dont you think the Blizzard team is a bunch of geeks? where do you think they did all the time mostly, rolling dice with D&D.

TrippyIMP

08-01-2006, 06:03

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!

Ace Bear

08-01-2006, 06:51

I have a question on this. How do the spirits spawn? My guess is they spawn like the Necro minions. There is no way they would give people the ability to do 8 Ritualists and just spam spirits until the match started that give them large boosts againsts the enemy(unless they made the ritualists inherently weak and therefore dependent on spirits, which would not go along with Anet's type of multi-usage thinking). I would have to believe Spirits either have an incredible recharge or they come from dead bodies. Which if they come from bodies(as I suspect) that means Anet is planning to have lots of action with alot of dead bodies all over place(two classes being able to raise from the dead and all). Ohh I can't wait. 3rd monk=prot monk my butt, 3rd monk is now Ritualists :)....I hope...

Final Doom

08-01-2006, 07:10

Why can't they make a summoner! :mad71:

Scutilla

08-01-2006, 07:27

Why can't they make a summoner! :mad71:
Hey, with some of the stuff they have planned for the Necro (clay golem, elite skill), we won't need summoners :p

And we've already hit our D2 quota for the thread... now that someone's (well, several someones) made the obligatory comment, I don't wanna see any more of that nonsense :happy05: *gets ranger's pet lizard to sic on any who want to continue the Druid argument*

As Ace mentioned, obviously there'd need to be some sort of cap on the spirits so they don't get out of control... I'm thinking 1) if there are different kinds of spirits instead of one "catch-all" spirit, only one could be in play at once like the ranger spirits 2) if they're all the same, either cap the number summonable by a character/team at once, or give them short duration/health degen, like the Necromancer.

Can't really say for sure until we hear more about it, and it's kinda hard to speculate with only a few paragraphs to go on. Ah well, wild speculations abound! :lol:

Forgotten Legend

08-01-2006, 08:28

they are called spirits so i imagine they will have the same rules as the ranger spirits... only one of each type on the battlefield per team, summoned out of thin air, will have durations, etc... etc...

winterfever

08-01-2006, 09:18

it's seriously almost getting to that point after i looked at hte sweet cover of CGW..........my mouth dropped...and i crusehd my feet.

SerpentKin

08-01-2006, 12:35

I'm thinking a guantlet build is gonna be made from Ritualists...

From the sounds of the skills or rather, summons, each summons is going to do soemthing special and that would include attacking and casting spells. I can imagine a ritualist setting up like 5 or 6 summons in front of them for a guantlet so that the enemy can't get to them without some damage already being done.

WeaselChops

08-01-2006, 13:53

I still wish it'd been a pirate.

The Pumpkin Lord of Doom

08-01-2006, 14:19

I still wish it'd been a pirate.

So Do I, Ah Well, They'll Be Involved In Chapter 3 . . . Hopefully

Stone TC

08-01-2006, 14:31

So how does the ritualist actually look like? Are there any pics, concept art or something in the CGW article maybe or anywhere else?

I bet they look cool....

Necromas

08-01-2006, 14:46

Spawning Power (Primary Attribute): Increases the durability of the ritualist's spirits and other creatures, such as ranger pets.

Hmmm, I could imagine the builds with having one ritualist and a bunch of rangers with "maxed out" pets.

P.S. I Kind of wish we'd have had a summoner class, but I guess ritualist looks ALOT cooler then assasin.

awls

08-01-2006, 14:47

you guys remember back on d2 when bnet lunched lod?
for those of you who don't or are too young to know what I'm talking about, lod was an expantion to diablo2 that besides a new Act (call it an Area) added two new classes, remember what new classes where there? (- The people responsible for both d2 and lod are now on Anet)
- Assassin and the Druid

A closer look:
The assassin had as her unike weapon claws, however there were quite a few GOOD sword assassin builds and she could use throwing daggers rather well (can't remember why thou), she had traps and auras similar to the Paladin (another d2 class), when you took a close look at the effect of her skills one could think that the assassin was a little merge between the Barbarian (warrior) and the Paladin in the following way: (remember that each class had 3 skill trees) She was composed by one of the barb's tree, one of the paladin's tree fused toghether in one tree, a tree for her claws and a new tree for traps.

The druid had unike helmets instead of weapons, he could summon spirits (ritualist anyone?) that had several effects on those with a certain distance of him like enhancing damage, life or some other bonus, he could shapeshift and had some direct damage spells that actualy sucked badly, he could also have a pets with him and there was something else I can't remember, either way, he was like a Necro, Sorcerer and paladin kinda fused.

At the time when I played those classes I thought that none of them brought anything original and new to the game play, in the end the both became another warrior that was in either werewolf or werebear most of the time or had to charge her claw skill to unleash some power damage thing

all this to say that I phear those new classes end up by bringing nothing new to the game rather some two classes that are alternative to others and read it bad alternatives

releasetheweasel

08-01-2006, 18:20

The ritualist sounds pretty cool. I wishing we could get two melee classes. I heard it would be more eastern themed and kinda hoped for a ninja or samurai. But I guess the assasin squashed the ninja though. And trying to make a whole new set of skills for another melee class would be hard to make unique and not just a warrior clone. So now its three to five, spell casters are winning.

As for the druid stuff, I wouldn't have minded. My favorite D&D class is druid, and I only played the D2 expansion for like an hour tops. I think if the druid were more like the D&D style druid it would be cool. More spells and less "I'm gonna transform and beat up everything in sight."

As for thoughts of later classes that (hopefully) are to come in later expansions, maybe a martial artist. Or maybe some form of telepath. Pirate would be cool, but I dont think there are flintlock pistols in the Guild Wars world. Then again, its not my game, so anything could happen.

Ekrin

08-01-2006, 19:08

My issue of CGW has not come yet!! (well brothers hope he didnt cancel it)
There is something special about having the atcual artice in your hands......
This class sounds awesome!

actionjack

08-01-2006, 20:55

Sounded alot like a Summoner Concept Class I saw before.. which also suggest binding "Avatars" to player for boost...

Guess such class can be consider a Summoner.. but hope to see more Uniquness in them.

(also are there pictures? And any more descriptive links to Assassin's skill?)

SilentMoon

08-01-2006, 21:41

Just a thought -- aren't some of the white mantle elementalists (I think) called Ritualists already?

Are they going to be renamed? Is this an oversight from Anet? :p

Pale Blade

08-01-2006, 22:05

glitched

09-01-2006, 00:08

While I haven't read the magazine yet, some of the Ritualists' skills are what we Necro's thought should have been ours in the first place. Well I can see Pale Blade becoming a N/Ri as soon as its available :yep:
I'm doing just the opposite... I'm making a Ri/N first chance I get. Blindfolded, ghost summoning, zombie raising lifestealer = teh uberness :happy14:

the true gangster

09-01-2006, 00:58

Hey, with some of the stuff they have planned for the Necro (clay golem, elite skill), we won't need summoners :p
-i only skimmed the chapter 2 info-saw the elite minion-but missed the clay golem-will we also have metal/fire/blood golems aswell

I still wish it'd been a pirate
If it had have been-that would be enough for me NOT to buy chapter/party with any pirates [assuming chapter1 chars could party with chap2 ones]

dkar

09-01-2006, 11:41

I know there's already a thread for the CGW article on Chapter 2, but since the announcement of the Ritualist class is some of the biggest news within it, I thought a new thread might be useful. Post your thoughts, hopes, speculations, whatever for the Ritualist class here.

Can you give the link to that article? I couldn't find the magazine everyone was referring to here in Europe.
:happy34:

Mawgleah

09-01-2006, 11:56

Can you give the link to that article? I couldn't find the magazine everyone was referring to here in Europe.
:happy34:

The article (and all links to it) had to be removed from the forums as posting it verbatim through any means, either in part or in it's entirety, is a violation of copyright laws.

However, Gaile has said that a similar article will be published in another magazine, which will be available to the European market.

If you check through the topics, you will find where some members have given a synopsis, in their own words, of that article.

NOTE: Using the PM feature on these forums to distribute said information is a no-no also.

jvxmtg

09-01-2006, 19:17

Ah I can see how well any non-warrior profession works with 2ndary Ritualist.

"Essence Strike: If you're standing near a summoned spirit, this gives you a quick energy boost."

You can literally build a fortress with Pain, Wards, and traps. lol

Can't wait. :happy14:

Bozos Of Bones

10-01-2006, 02:14

Scutilla

10-01-2006, 17:57

Alright, since we can't quote the article itself, here's a synopsis of the Ritualist for those of you that haven't read about it yet:

A "spiritualist", who uses the power of spirits and looks into the ethereal realm
Described as being blindfolded, no other visual descriptions as of yet
A mix of the ranger, necro, and monk classes
Can summon spirits (don't know if they're like ranger spirits) and use them to power healing or damage spells
A versatile character, although one that requires a lot of micromanagement
Attributes:

Spawning Power (Primary): Increases the power of summoned creatures, like ritualist spirits and ranger pets (maybe necro minions as well?)
Channeling Magic: Offensive spells
Communing Magic: Magic involving the summoning and use of spirits
Restoration Magic: Healing and protection spells

Some of the sample skills have a stronger effect depending on how close the Ritualist is to a spirit, others act as if the spirit was at the center of a Ward or Well, although there are also direct-damage and healing spells that aren't affected by spirits
According to James Phinney, designer of Chapter 2, the ritualist was made both to take the pressure off monks a little (as an alternative healer) and to fulfill an unique role.

(Mods, maybe this should be moved to the OP so it's more visable)

Fallen_62

10-01-2006, 18:13

I'll do ya one better... You made the news on the front page :p Check it out.

(Id split the thread, making that post a new thread, but with the new software, I need to figure out how to do that O.o )

Erasculio

10-01-2006, 18:28

(Id split the thread, making that post a new thread, but with the new software, I need to figure out how to do that O.o )
Maybe Scutilla could just do that post again as a new thread, and have the one here deleted?

Erasculio

Scutilla

10-01-2006, 21:15

Well, with the post on the front page, I figure that's plenty of coverage ^_^

*wishes he had saved the blurb on the Assassin as well*

tigercan

10-01-2006, 22:07

Well, with the post on the front page, I figure that's plenty of coverage ^_^

*wishes he had saved the blurb on the Assassin as well*

*has the blurb on the assassin plus info on other new skills for the existing classes but not sure if it's allowed to be posted (the site I got it from was asked by A-Net to remove it, but not until I copied & pasted it :D )

Mods if you want the info send me a PM and I'll send what I have :)

Mawgleah

10-01-2006, 22:56

We also have the info....doesn't mean it can be posted. You can paraphrase (provide a summary) of the article, you can even quote snippets of the article providing you give credit for the source; however you cannot reproduce the article in any way, shape or form as that violates copyright laws.

ChaosJester

11-01-2006, 03:16

Well, I think I'll like the Ritualist. When I saw the news, I was personally thinking "Not ANOTHER spellcaster?!" Then I saw some of the skills, and instantly, my dislike was lessened. I can see Ranger trapping getting a boost, since R/Ri trappers can lay down huge numbers of spirits, then pulling an energy boost off of the spirits, then laying down tons of traps. The same principle will probably be applicable to A/Ris too, potentially allowing 3 primary classes, one of which is a healer class, to go on trap runs and be as effective as Rangers already are in that style of combat.

Not only that, but Mo/Ri healers... I like the idea. With a nice blend of Protection and Healing in the Communing and Restoration attribute lines... my life will be heaven. I always like playing with unconventional builds, but healing and protection skills have so far dictated using one of 2-3 basic builds for each line, which saddened me, especially since maxing out attributes is almost necessary for those lines. I'm glad that the Ritualist will probably render my concerns there moot.

As for the more necromantic abilities of the Ritualist as a class, I like that it adds a lot of direct damage and summoning. I have till now shyed away from the Necromancer as a primary class, but love it as a secondary, and this might just give me a reason to use my beloved Necro class in it's primary form.

Overall, the Ritualist has so far exceeded my expectations. Way to go, ANet. I LIKE the new spellcaster class. My fears are put to rest, even if the spirits don't.

aeonbahamutzero

11-01-2006, 06:00

could you guys tell me where these skill descriptions are please? i've been looking and i can't find them :(

The Experimentor

11-01-2006, 08:32

What I'd like to know is, if the Ritualist is blindfolded and sees through the spiritual realm, how will blindness affect him? Will he be permanently blind but only low(~33%) miss chance, or some blind recovery? Maybe it won't change a thing, making it only cosmetic...

I dunno about how it will affect him, but...

1st, blindfolds will probably be the headgear for the Ritualist class.

2nd, I can't wait for this... :idea:

Ritualist primary profession

+

Swordsmanship Warrior secondary profession

=

Blind, Mystic Swordsman!!! :happy34: :D